I/O WHITE 



strange and singular peculiarity in the instance of the cuculus 

 canorus. 



We found the case to be the same with the ring-tail hawk, in 

 respect to formation ; and, as far as I can recollect, with the 

 swift ; and probably it is so with many more sorts of birds that 

 are not granivorous. I am, etc. 



LETTER XXXI 



SELBORNE, April 29^, 1776. 



DEAR SIR, On August 4^1,1775, we surprised a large 

 viper, which seemed very heavy and bloated, as it lay in the 

 grass basking in the sun. When we came to cut it up, we 

 found that the abdomen was crowded with young, fifteen in 

 number ; the shortest of which measured full seven inches, and 

 were about the size of full-grown earthworms. This little fry 

 issued into the world with the true viper-spirit about them, 

 showing great alertness as soon as disengaged from the belly 

 or the dam : they twisted and wriggled about, and set them- 

 selves up, and gaped very wide when touched with a stick, 

 showing manifest tokens of menace and defiance, though as yet 

 they had no manner of fangs that we could find, even with the 

 help of our glasses. 



To a thinking mind nothing is more wonderful than that early 

 instinct which impresses young animals with a notion of the 

 situation of their natural weapons, and of using them properly 

 in their own defence, even before those weapons subsist or are 

 formed. Thus a young cock will spar at his adversary before 

 his spurs are grown ; and a calf or a lamb will push with their 

 heads before their horns are sprouted. In the same manner 

 did these young adders attempt to bite before their fangs were 

 in being. The dam however was furnished with very formi- 

 dable ones, which we lifted up (for they fold down when not 

 used) and cut them off with the point of our scissors. 



There was little room to suppose that this brood had ever 

 been in the open air before ; and that they were taken in for 

 refuge, at the mouth of the dam, when she perceived that dan- 

 ger was approaching ; because then probably we should have 

 found them somewhere in the neck, and not in the abdomen. 



